{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13007/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13007","id":"gutenberg_13007","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13007","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Mythology","Mythology, Norse","Paganism"],"text":"Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore, No. 12\n\n\n\nThe Edda\n\nI\n\nThe Divine Mythology of the North\n\n\nBy\n\nWinifred Faraday, M.A.\n\n\n\nPublished by David Nutt, at the Sign of the Phoenix, Long Acre, London\n1902\n\n\n\n\nAuthor's Note\n\nSome explanation is needed of the form of spelling I have adopted\nin transcribing Norse proper names. The spirants thorn and eth\nare represented by _th_ and _d_, as being more familiar to readers\nunacquainted with the  original. Marks of vowel-length are in all cases\nomitted. The inflexional _-r_ of the nominative singular masculine\nis also omitted, whether it appears as _-r_ or is assimilated to a\npreceding consonant (as in Odinn, Eysteinn, Heindall, Egill) in the\nNorse form, with the single exception of the name Tyr, where I use\nthe form which has become conventional in English.\n\nManchester,\nDecember 1901.\n\n\n\n\nThe Edda: I. The Divine Mythology of the North\n\n\nThe Icelandic Eddas are the only vernacular record of Germanic\nheathendom as it developed during the four centuries which in England\nsaw the destruction of nearly all traces of the heathen system. The\nso-called Elder Edda is a collection of some thirty poems, mythic and\nheroic in substance, interspersed with short pieces of prose, which\nsurvives in a thirteenth-century MS., known as the Codex Regius,\ndiscovered in Iceland in 1642; to these are added other poems of\nsimilar character from other sources. The Younger Edda is a prose\nparaphrase of, and commentary on, these poems and others which are\nlost, together with a treatise on metre, written by the historian\nSnorri Sturluson about 1220.\n\nThis use of the word Edda is incorrect and unhistorical, though\nconvenient and sanctioned by the use of several centuries. It was early\nused as a general term for the rules and materials for versemaking,\nand applied in this sense to Snorri's work. When the poems on which\nhis paraphrase is founded were discovered, Icelandic scholars by a\nmisunderstanding applied the name to them also; and as they attributed\nthe collection quite arbitrarily to the historian Saemund (1056-1133),\nit was long known as Saemundar Edda, a name now generally discarded in\nfavour of the less misleading titles of Elder or Poetic Edda. From its\napplication to this collection, the word derives a more extended use,\n(1) as a general term for Norse mythology; (2) as a convenient name\nto distinguish the simpler style of these anonymous narrative poems\nfrom the elaborate formality of the Skalds.\n\nThe poems of the Edda are certainly older than the MS., although\nthe old opinion as to their high antiquity is untenable. The majority\nprobably date from the tenth century in their present form; this dating\ndoes not necessitate the ascription of the shape in which the legends\nare presented, still less of their substance, to that period. With\nregard to the place of their composition opinions vary widely,\nNorway, the British Isles and Greenland having all found champions;\nbut the evidence is rather questionable, and I incline to leave\nthem to the country which has preserved them. They are possibly of\npopular origin; this, together with their epic or narrative character,\nwould account for the striking absence from them of some of the chief\ncharacteristics of Skaldic poetry: the obscuring of the sense by the\nelaborate interlacing of sentences and the extensive use of kennings\nor mythological synonyms, and the complication of the metre by such\nexpedients as the conjunction of end-rhyme with alliteration. Eddie\nverse is governed solely by the latter, and the strophic arrangement\nis simple, only two forms occurring: (1) couplets of alliterative\nshort lines; (2) six-line strophes, consisting of a couplet followed\nby a single short line, the whole repeated.\n\nRoughly speaking, the first two-fifths of the MS. is mythological,\nthe rest heroic. I propose to observe this distinction, and to\ndeal in this study with the stories of the Gods. In this connexion,\nSnorri's Edda and the mythical Ynglinga Saga may also be considered,\nbut as both were compiled a couple of centuries or more after the\nintroduction of Christianity into Iceland, it is uncertain how much in\nthem is literary explanation of tradition whose meaning was forgotten;\nsome also, especially in Snorri, is probably pure invention, fairy\ntale rather than myth.\n\nMany attempts have been made to prove that the material of the Edda\nis largely borrowed. The strength and distinction of Icelandic poetry\nrest rather on the fact that it is original and national and, like\nthat of Greece, owes little to foreign sources; and that it began in\nthe heathen age, before Christian or Romantic influences had touched\nIceland. Valuable as the early Christian poetry of England is, we look\nin vain there for the humour, the large-minded simplicity of motive,\nthe suggestive character-drawing, the swift dramatic action, which\nare as conspicuous in many poems in the Edda as in many of the Sagas.\n\nOmitting the heroic poems, there are in Codex Regius the following: (1)\nOf a more or less comprehensive character, _V\u00f6luspa, Vafthrudnismal,\nGrimnismal, Lokasenna, Harbardsljod_; (2) dealing with episodes,\n_Hymiskvida, Thrymskvida, Skirnisf\u00f6r. Havamal_ is a collection\nof proverbs, but contains two interpolations from mythical\npoems; _Alvissmal_, which, in the form of a dialogue between\nThor and a dwarf Alviss, gives a list of synonyms, is a kind of\nmythologico-poetical glossary. Several of these poems are found\nin another thirteenth-century vellum fragment, with an additional\none, variously styled _Vegtamskvida_ or _Baldr's Dreams_; the great\nfourteenth-century codex Flateybook contains _Hyndluljod_, partly\ngenealogical, partly an imitation of _V\u00f6luspa_; and one of the MSS. of\nSnorri's Edda gives us _Rigsthula_.\n\n_V\u00f6luspa_, though not one of the earliest poems, forms an appropriate\nopening. Metrical considerations forbid an earlier date than the\nfirst quarter of the eleventh century, and the last few lines are\nstill later. The material is, however, older: the poem is an outline,\nin allusions often obscure to us, of traditions and beliefs familiar to\nits first hearers. The very bareness of the outline is sufficient proof\nthat the material is not new. The framework is apparently imitated from\nthat of the poem known as _Baldr's Dreams_, some lines from which are\ninserted in _V\u00f6luspa_. This older poem describes Odin's visit to the\nSibyl in hell-gates to inquire into the future. He rides down to her\ntomb at the eastern door of Nifl-hell and chants spells, until she\nawakes and asks: \"What man unknown to me is that, who has troubled me\nwith this weary journey? Snow has snowed on me, rain has beaten me,\ndew has drenched me, I have long been dead.\" He gives the name Wegtam,\nor Way-wise, and then follow question and answer until she discovers\nhis identity and will say no more. In _V\u00f6luspa_ there is no descriptive\nintroduction, and no dialogue; the whole is spoken by the Sibyl,\nwho plunges at once into her story, with only the explanatory words:\n\"Thou, Valfather, wouldst have me tell the ancient histories of men as\nfar as I remember.\" She describes the creation of the world and sky\nby Bor's sons; the building by the Gods of a citadel in Ida-plain,\nand their age of innocence till three giant-maids brought greed of\ngold; the creation of the dwarfs; the creation of the first man and\nwoman out of two trees by Odin, Hoeni and Lodur; the world-ash and\nthe spring beside it where dwell the three Norns who order the fates\nof men. Then follows an allusion to the war between the Aesir and the\nVanir, the battle with the giants who had got possession of the goddess\nFreyja, and the breaking of bargains; an obscure reference to Mimi's\nspring where Odin left his eye as a pledge; and an enumeration of his\nwar-maids or Valkyries. Turning to the future, the Sibyl prophesies\nthe death of Baldr, the vengeance on his slayer, and the chaining of\nLoki, the doom of the Gods and the destruction of the world at the\ncoming of the fire-giants and the release of Loki's children from\ncaptivity. The rest of the poem seems to be later; it tells how the\nearth shall rise again from the deep, and the Aesir dwell once more\nin Odin's halls, and there is a suggestion of Christian influence in\nit which is absent from the earlier part.\n\nOf the other general poems, the next four were probably composed before\n950; in each the setting is different. _Vafthrudnismal_, a riddle-poem,\nshows Odin in a favourite position, seeking in disguise for knowledge\nof the future. Under the name of Gangrad (Wanderer), he visits the\nwise giant Vafthrudni, and the two agree to test their wisdom: the one\nwho fails to answer a question is to forfeit his head. In each case\nthe questions deal first with the past. Vafthrudni asks about Day and\nNight, and the river which divides the Giants from the Gods, matters of\ncommon knowledge; and then puts a question as to the future: \"What is\nthe plain where Surt and the blessed Gods shall meet in battle?\" Odin\nreplies, and proceeds to question in his turn; first about the creation\nof Earth and Sky, the origin of Sun and Moon, Winter and Summer, the\nGiants and the Winds; the coming of Nj\u00f6rd the Wane to the Aesir as\na hostage; the Einherjar, or chosen warriors of Valhalla. Then come\nprophetic questions on the destruction of the Sun by the wolf Fenri,\nthe Gods who shall rule in the new world after Ragnar\u00f6k, the end of\nOdin. The poem is brought to a close by Odin's putting the question\nwhich only himself can answer: \"What did Odin say in his son's ear\nbefore he mounted the pyre?\" and the giant's head is forfeit.\n\nIn the third poem of this class, _Grimnismal_, a prose introduction\nrelates that Odin and Frigg quarrelled over the merits of their\nrespective foster-children. To settle the question, Odin goes\ndisguised as Grimni, \"the Hooded One,\" to visit his foster-son Geirr\u00f6d;\nbut Frigg, to justify her charge of inhospitality against Geirr\u00f6d,\nsends her maiden Fulla to warn him against the coming stranger. Odin\ntherefore meets with a harsh reception, and is bound between two fires\nin the hall. Geirr\u00f6d's young son, Agnar, protests against this rude\ntreatment, and gives wine to the guest, who then begins to instruct\nhim in matters concerning the Gods. He names the halls of the Aesir,\ndescribes Valhalla and the ash Yggdrasil, the Valkyries, the creation\nof the world (two stanzas in common with _Vafthrudnismal_), and\nenumerates his own names. The poem ends with impressive abruptness\nby his turning to Geirr\u00f6d:\n\n\"Thou art drunk, Geirr\u00f6d, thou hast drunk too deep; thou art bereft\nof much since thou hast lost my favour, the favour of Odin and all\nthe Einherjar. I have told thee much, but thou hast minded little. Thy\nfriends betray thee: I see my friend's sword lie drenched in blood. Now\nshall Odin have the sword-weary slain; I know thy life is ended,\nthe Fates are ungracious. Now thou canst see Odin: come near me,\nif thou canst.\"\n\n[Prose.] \"King Geirr\u00f6d sat with his sword on his knee, half drawn. When\nhe heard that Odin was there, he stood up and would have led Odin\nfrom the fires. The sword slipt from his hand; the hilt turned\ndownwards. The king caught his foot and fell forwards, the sword\nstanding towards him, and so he met his death. Then Odin went away,\nand Agnar was king there long afterwards.\"\n\n_Harbardsljod_ is a dialogue, and humorous. Thor on his return from\nthe east comes to a channel, at the farther side of which stands Odin,\ndisguised as a ferryman, Greybeard. He refuses to ferry Thor across,\nand they question each other as to their past feats, with occasional\nthreats from Thor and taunts from Odin, until the former goes off\nvowing vengeance on the ferryman:\n\n_Thor_. \"Thy skill in words would serve thee ill if I waded across\nthe water; I think thou wouldst cry louder than the wolf, if thou\nshouldst get a blow from the hammer.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"Sif has a lover at home, thou shouldst seek him. That is a\ntask for thee to try, it is more proper for thee.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"Thou speakest what thou knowest most displeasing to me;\nthou cowardly fellow, I think that thou liest.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"I think I speak true; thou art slow on the road. Thou wouldst\nhave got far, if thou hadst started at dawn.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"Harbard, scoundrel, it is rather thou who hast delayed me.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"I never thought a shepherd could so delay Asa-Thor's journey.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"I will counsel thee: row thy boat hither. Let us cease\nquarrelling; come and meet Magni's father.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"Leave thou the river; crossing shall be refused thee.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"Show me the way, since thou wilt not ferry me.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"That is a small thing to refuse. It is a long way to go: a\nwhile to the stock, and another to the stone, then keep to the left\nhand till thou reach Verland. There will Fj\u00f6rgyn meet her son Thor,\nand she will tell him the highway to Odin's land.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"Shall I get there to-day?\"\n\n_Odin_. \"With toil and trouble thou wilt get there about sunrise,\nas I think.\"\n\n_Thor_. \"Our talk shall be short, since thou answerest with mockery. I\nwill reward thee for refusing passage, if we two meet again.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"Go thy way, where all the fiends may take thee.\"\n\n_Lokasenna_ also is in dialogue form. A prose introduction tells\nhow the giant Oegi, or Gymi, gave a feast to the Aesir. Loki was\nturned out for killing a servant, but presently returned and began to\nrevile the Gods and Goddesses, each one in turn trying to interfere,\nonly to provoke a taunt from Loki. At last Thor, who had been absent\non a journey, came in and threatened the slanderer with his hammer,\nwhereupon Loki said, \"I spoke to the Aesir and the sons of the Aesir\nwhat my mind told me; but for thee alone I will go away, for I know\nthou wilt strike.\" Some of the poem is rather pointless abuse, but\nmuch touches points already suggested in the other poems.\n\n_Hyndluljod_ is much later than the others, probably  not before\n1200. The style is late, and the form imitated from _V\u00f6luspa_. It\ndescribes a visit paid by Freyja to the Sibyl to learn the genealogy of\nher favourite Ottar. The larger part deals with heroic genealogies, but\nthere are scanty allusions to Baldr, Frey, Heimdal, Loki's children,\nand Thor, and a Christian reference to a God who shall come after\nRagnar\u00f6k \"when Odin shall meet the wolf.\" It tells nothing new.\n\nWe have here then, omitting _Hyndluljod_, five poems (four of them\nbelonging to the first half of the tenth century) which suggest a\ngeneral outline of Norse mythology: there is a hierarchy of Gods, the\nAesir, who live together in a citadel, Odin being the chief. Among\nthem are several who are not Aesir by origin: Nj\u00f6rd and his son and\ndaughter, Frey and Freyja, are Vanir; Loki is really an enemy and\nan agent in their fall; and there are one or two Goddesses of giant\nrace. The giants are rivals and enemies to the Gods; the dwarfs are\nalso antagonistic, but in bondage. The meeting-place of the Gods is\nby the World-Ash, Yggdrasil, on whose well-being the fate of Gods\nand men depends; at its root lies the World-Snake. The Gods have\nforeknowledge of their own doom, Ragnar\u00f6k, the great fight when they\nshall meet Loki's children, the Wolf and the Snake; both sides will\nfall and the world be destroyed. An episode in the story is the death\nof Baldr. This we may assume to be the religion of the Viking age\n(800-1000 A.D.), a compound of the beliefs of various ages and tribes.\n\n_The Aesir._--The number of the Aesir is not fixed. _Hyndluljod_\nsays there were twelve (\"there were eleven Aesir when Baldr went\ndown into the howe\"). Snorri gives a list of fourteen Aesir or Gods\n(Odin, Thor, Baldr, Nj\u00f6rd, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Heimdal, H\u00f6d, Vidar, Vali,\nUllr, Forseti, Loki), and adds Hoeni in another list, all the fifteen\noccurring in the poems; and sixteen Goddesses (Asynjor), the majority\nof whom are merely personified epithets, occurring nowhere else. Of\nthe sixteen, Frigg, Gefion, Freyja and Saga (really an epithet only)\nare Goddesses in the poems, and Fulla is Frigg's handmaid. In another\nchapter, Snorri adds Idunn, Gerd, Sigyn and Nanna, of whom the latter\ndoes not appear in the Elder Edda, where Idunn, Gerd (a giantess)\nand Sigyn are the wives of Bragi, Frey and Loki; and two others,\nthe giantess Skadi and Sif, are the wives of Nj\u00f6rd and Thor.\n\nA striking difference from classical mythology is that neither Tyr\n(who should etymologically be the Sky-god), nor Thor (the Thunder-god),\ntakes the highest place. Tyr is the hero of one important episode,\nthe chaining of the Wolf, through which he loses his right hand. This\nis told in full by Snorri and alluded to in _Lokasenna_, both in the\nprose preface (\"Tyr also was there, with only one hand; the Fenris-wolf\nhad bitten off the other, when he was bound\") and in the poem itself:\n\n_Loki_. \"I must remember that right hand which Fenri bit off thee.\"\n\n_Tyr_. \"I am short of a hand, but thou of the famous wolf; to each\nthe loss is ill-luck. Nor is the wolf in better plight, for he must\nwait in bonds till Ragnar\u00f6k.\"\n\nOtherwise, he only appears in connexion with two more popular Gods:\nhe speaks in Frey's defence in _Lokasenna_, and in _Hymiskvida_ he\nis Thor's companion in the search for a cauldron; the latter poem\nrepresents him as a giant's son.\n\nThor, on the other hand, is second only to his father Odin; he is\nthe strongest of the Gods and their champion against the giants,\nand his antagonist at Ragnar\u00f6k is to be the World-Snake. Like Odin,\nhe travels much, but while the chief God generally goes craftily and\nin disguise, to gain knowledge or test his wisdom, Thor's errands are\nwarlike; in _Lokasenna_ he is absent on a journey, in _Harbardsljod_\nand _Alvissmal_ he is returning from one. His journeys are always\nto the east; so in _Harbardsljod_: \"I was in the east, fighting\nthe malevolent giant-brides.... I was in the east and guarding the\nriver, when Svarang's sons attacked me.\" The Giants live in the\neast (_Hymiskvida_ 5); Thor threatened Loki: \"I will fling thee up\ninto the east, and no one shall see thee more\" (_Lokasenna_ 59);\nthe fire-giants at Ragnar\u00f6k are to come from the east: \"Hrym comes\ndriving from the east, he lifts his shield before him.... A ship\ncomes from the east, Muspell's sons will come sailing over the\nsea, and Loki steers\" (_V\u00f6luspa_ 50, 51). It would not, perhaps,\nbe overstraining the point to suggest that this is a reminiscence of\nearly warfare between the Scandinavians and eastern nations, either\nLapps and Finns or Slavonic tribes.\n\nThor is the God of natural force, the son of Earth. Two of the\nepisodical poems deal with his contests with the giants. _Thrymskvida_,\nthe story of how Thor won back his hammer, Mj\u00f6llni, from the giant\nThrym, is the finest and one of the oldest of the mythological poems;\na translation is given in the appendix, as an example of Eddic poetry\nat its best. Loki appears as the willing helper of the Gods, and Thor's\ncompanion. The Thunderer's journey with Tyr in quest of a cauldron\nis related with much humour in _Hymiskvida_: Hymi's beautiful wife,\nwho helps her guests to outwit her husband, is a figure familiar in\nfairy-tales as the Ogre's wife.\n\nThe chief God of the Scandinavians is, it must be confessed, an\nunsympathetic character. He is the head of the Valhalla system;\nhe is Val-father (Father of the Slain), and the Valkyries are his\n\"Wishmaidens,\" as the Einherjar are his \"Wishsons.\" He naturally takes\na special interest in mortal heroes, from whom come the chosen hosts\nof Valhalla. But, in spite of the splendour of his surroundings, he\nis wanting in dignity. The chief of the Gods has neither the might and\nunthinking valour of Thor, nor the self-sacrificing courage of Tyr. He\nis a God who practises magic, and it is as Father of Spells that he is\npowerful. He is the wisest of the Gods in the sense that he remembers\nmost about the past and foresees most about the future; yet he is\npowerless in difficulty without the craft of Loki and the hammer of\nThor. He always wanders in disguise, and the stories told of him are\nchiefly love-adventures; this is true of all the deeds he mentions\nin _Harbardsljod_, and also of the two interpolations in _Havamal_,\nthough one of the two had an object, the stealing of the mead of\ninspiration from the giant Suptung, whose daughter Gunnl\u00f6d guarded it.\n\n_V\u00f6luspa_ makes him one of three creative deities, the other two being\nLodur (probably Loki) and Hoeni, of whom nothing else is known except\nthe story that he was given as hostage to the Vanir in exchange for\nNj\u00f6rd. The same three Gods (Odin, Loki and Hoeni) are connected with\nthe legend of the Nibelung treasure; and it was another adventure of\ntheirs, according to Snorri, which led to the loss of Idunn.\n\nOf the other Gods, Bragi is a later development; his name means\nsimply king or chief, and his attributes, as God of eloquence and\npoetry, are apparently borrowed from Odin. Heimdal, the watchman and\n\"far-seeing like the Vanir,\" who keeps guard on the rainbow bridge\nBifr\u00f6st, is represented in the curious poem _Rigsthula_ as founder of\nthe different social orders. He wandered over the world under the name\nof Rig, and from his first journey sprang the race of thralls, swarthy,\ncrooked and broad-backed, who busied themselves with fencing land and\ntending goats and swine; from his second, the churls, fine and ruddy,\nwho broke oxen, built houses and ploughed the land; from his third,\nthe earls, yellow-haired, rosy, and keen-eyed, who broke horses and\nstrung bows, rode, swam, and hurled spears; and the youngest of the\nearls' race was Konung the king, who knew all mysteries, understood\nthe speech of birds, could quench fire and heal wounds. Heimdal is\nsaid to be the son of nine mothers, and to have fought with Loki for\nFreyja's Brising-necklace. His horn is hidden under Yggdrasil, to be\nbrought out at Ragnar\u00f6k, when he will blow a warning blast. His origin\nis obscure. Still less is known of Vidar and Vali, two sons of Odin,\none of whom is to avenge Baldr's death, the other to slay the wolf\nafter it has swallowed up the chief God at Ragnar\u00f6k. Thor's stepson\nUllr (Glory) is probably, like his sons Modi and Magni (Wrath and\nStrength), a mere epithet.\n\nFrigg, Odin's wife and the chief Goddess, daughter of Earth,\nis not very distinctly characterised, and is often confused with\nFreyja. Gefion should be the sea-goddess, since that seems to be\nthe meaning of her name, but her functions are apparently usurped by\nthe Wane Nj\u00f6rd; according to Snorri, she is the patron of those who\ndie unwedded.\n\n_Baldr_.--The story of Baldr is the most debated point in the Edda. The\nchief theories advanced are: (1) That it is the oldest part of Norse\nmythology, and of ritual origin; (2) that Baldr is really a hero\ntransformed into a God; (3) that the legend is a solar myth with\nor without Christian colouring;  (4) that it is entirely borrowed\nfrom Medi\u00e6val Greek and Christian sources. This last theory is too\ningenious to be credible; and with regard to the third, there is\nnothing essentially Christian in the chief features of the legend,\nwhile the solar idea leaves too much unexplained. The references to\nthe myth in the Elder Edda are:\n\n(1) _Vegtamskvida_ (about 900 A.D.). Odin questions the Sibyl as to\nthe meaning of Baldr's dreams:\n\n_Odin_. \"For whom are the benches (in hell) strewn with rings, the\nhalls fairly adorned with gold?\"\n\n_Sibyl_. \"Here the mead, clear drink, stands brewed for Baldr; the\nshields are spread. The sons of the Aesir are too merry.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"Who will be Baldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life?\"\n\n_Sibyl_. \"H\u00f6d bears thither the high branch of fame: he will be\nBaldr's slayer and rob Odin's son of life.\"\n\n_Odin_. \"Who will avenge the deed on H\u00f6d and bring Baldr's slayer to\nthe funeral pyre?\"\n\n_Sibyl_. \"Rind bears a son, Vali, in the halls of the west. He shall\nnot wash his hands nor comb his hair till he bears Baldr's foe to\nthe pyre.\"\n\n(2) In _Lokasenna_ Frigg says: \"If I had a son like Baldr here in\nOegi's halls, thou shouldst not pass out from the sons of the Aesir,\nbut be slain here in thy anger\"; to which Loki replies, \"Wilt thou\nthat I speak more ill words, Frigg? I am the cause that thou wilt\nnever more see Baldr ride into the hall.\"\n\n(3) In _Vafthrudnismal_ the only reference is Odin's question,\n\"What said Odin in his son's ear when he mounted the pyre?\"\n\n(4) In _V\u00f6luspa_ the Sibyl prophesies, \"I saw doom threatening Baldr,\nthe bleeding victim, the son of Odin. Grown high above the meadows\nstood the mistletoe, slender and fair. From this stem, which looked\nso slender, grew a fatal and dangerous shaft. H\u00f6d shot it, and Frigg\nwept in Fenhall over Valhall's woe.\"  The following lines, on the\nchaining of Loki, suggest his complicity.\n\n(5) _Hyndluljod_ has one reference: \"There were eleven Aesir by\nnumber when Baldr went down into the howe. Vali was his avenger and\nslew his brother's slayer.\"\n\nBesides these there is a fragment quoted by Snorri: \"Th\u00f6kk will weep\ndry tears at Baldr's funeral pyre. I had no good of the old man's\nson alive or dead; let Hel keep what she has.\" _Grimnismal_ assigns\na hall to Baldr among the Gods.\n\nThere are, in addition, two prose versions of the story by later\nwriters: the Icelandic version of Snorri (1178-1241) with all the\ndetails familiar to every one; and the Latin one of the Dane Saxo\nGrammaticus (about thirty years earlier), which makes Baldr and H\u00f6d\nheroes instead of Gods, and completely alters the character of the\nlegend by making a rivalry for Nanna's favour the centre of the plot\nand cause of the catastrophe. On the Eddic version and on Saxo's\ndepend the theories of Golther, Detter, Niedner and other German\nscholars on the one hand, and Dr. Frazer on the other.\n\nIt has often been pointed out that there is no trace of Baldr-worship\nin other Germanic nations, nor in any of the Icelandic sagas except\nthe late Frithjofssaga. This, however, is true of other Gods, notably\nof Tyr, who is without question one of the oldest. The only deities\nnamed with any suggestion of sacrifice or worship in the Icelandic\nsagas proper are Odin, Thor, Frey, Nj\u00f6rd, Frigg and Freyja. The process\nof choice is as arbitrary in mythology as in other sciences. Again,\nit is more likely that the original version of the legend should have\nsurvived in Iceland than in Denmark, which, being on the mainland,\nwas earlier subject to Christian and Romantic influences; and\nthat a heathen God should, in the two or three centuries following\nthe establishment of Christianity in the North, be turned into a\nmortal hero, than that the reverse process should have acted at a\nsufficiently late date to permit of both versions existing side by\nside in the thirteenth century. A similar gradual elimination of the\nsupernatural may be found in the history of the Volsung myth. Snorri's\nversion is merely an amplification of that in the Elder Edda, which,\nscanty as its account of Baldr is, leaves no doubt as to his divinity.\n\nThe outline gathered from the poems is as follows: Baldr, Odin's son,\nis killed by his brother H\u00f6d through a mistletoe spray; Loki is in some\nway concerned in his death, which is an overwhelming misfortune to the\nGods; but it is on H\u00f6d that his death is avenged. He is burnt on a pyre\n(Snorri says on his ship, a feature which must come from the Viking\nage; _Hyndluljod_ substitutes howe-burial). He will be absent from\nthe great fight at Ragnar\u00f6k, but _V\u00f6luspa_ adds that he will return\nafterwards. Nanna has nothing to do with the story. The connexion with\nthe hierarchy of the Aesir seems external only, since Baldr has no\napparent relation to the great catastrophe as have Odin, Thor, Frej,\nTyr and Loki; this, then, would point to the independence of his myth.\n\nThe genuineness of the myth seems to depend on whether the mistletoe\nis an original feature of it or not, and on this point there can\nbe little real doubt. The German theory that Baldr could only be\nkilled by his own sword, which was therefore disguised by enchantment\nand used against him, and that the Icelandic writers misunderstood\nthis to mean a mistletoe sprig, is far-fetched and romantic, and\ncrumbles at a touch. For if, as it is claimed, the Icelanders had no\nmistletoe, why should they introduce it into a story to which it did\nnot belong? They might preserve it by tradition, but they would hardly\ninvent it. Granting this, the mistletoe becomes the central point of\nthe legend. The older mythologists, who only saw in it a sun-myth,\noverlooked the fact that since any weapon would have done to kill\nthe God with, the mistletoe must have some special significance; and\nif it is a genuine part of the story, as we have no reason to doubt,\nit will be hard to overturn Dr. Frazer's theory that the Baldr-myth\nis a relic of tree-worship and the ritual sacrifice of the God,\nBaldr being a tree-spirit whose soul is contained in the mistletoe.\n\nThe contradictions in the story, especially as told by Snorri\n(such as the confusion between the parts played by H\u00f6d and Loki,\nand the unsuspicious attitude of the Gods as Loki directs H\u00f6d's aim)\nare sometimes urged against its genuineness. They are rather proofs\nof antiquity. Apparent contradictions whose explanation is forgotten\noften survive in tradition; the inventor of a new story takes care to\nmake it consistent. It is probable, however, that there were originally\nonly two actors in the episode, the victim and the slayer, and that\nLoki's part is later than H\u00f6d's, for he really belongs to the Valhall\nand Ragnar\u00f6k myth, and was only introduced here as a link. The incident\nof the oath extracted from everything on earth to protect Baldr, which\noccurs in Snorri and in a paper MS. of _Baldr's Dreams_, was probably\ninvented to explain the choice of weapon, which would certainly need\nexplanation to an Icelandic audience. If Dr. Frazer's theory be right,\nVali, who slew the slayer, must also have been an original figure in\nthe legend. His antiquity is supported by the fact that he plays the\npart of avenger in the poems; while in Snorri, where he is mentioned\nas a God, his absence from the account of Baldr's death is only a\npart of that literary development by which real responsibility for\nthe murder was transferred from H\u00f6d to Loki.\n\nSnorri gives Baldr a son, Forseti (Judge), who is also named as a\nGod in _Grimnismal_. He must have grown out of an epithet of Baldr's,\nof whom Snorri says that \"no one can resist his sentence\"; the sacred\ntree would naturally be the seat of judgment.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_The Wanes._--Three of the Norse divinities, Nj\u00f6rd and his son and\ndaughter, are not Aesir by descent. The following account is given\nof their presence in Asgard:\n\n(1) In _Vafthrudnismal_, Odin asks:\n\n\"Whence came Nj\u00f6rd among the sons of the Aesir? for he was not born\nof the Aesir.\"\n\n_Vafthrudni_. \"In Vanaheim wise powers ordained and gave him for a\nhostage to the Gods; at the doom of the world he shall come back,\nhome to the wise Wanes.\"\n\n(2) There is an allusion in _V\u00f6luspa_ to the war which caused the\ngiving of hostages:\n\n\"Odin shot into the host: this was the first war in the world. Broken\nwas the wall of the citadel of the Aesir, so that the Wanes could\ntread the fields of war.\"\n\n(3) Loki taunts Nj\u00f6rd with his position, in _Lokasenna_:\n\n\"Thou wast sent from the east as a hostage to the Gods....\"\n\n_Nj\u00f6rd_. \"This is my comfort, though I was sent from far as a hostage\nto the Gods, yet I have a son whom no one hates, and he is thought\nthe best of the Aesir.\"\n\n_Loki_. \"Stay, Nj\u00f6rd, restrain thy pride; I will hide it no longer:\nthy son is thine own sister's son, and that is no worse than one\nwould expect.\"\n\n_Tyr_. \"Frey is the best of all the bold riders of Asgard.\"\n\nThere is little doubt that Nj\u00f6rd was once a God of higher importance\nthan he is in the Edda, where he is overshadowed by his son. Grimm's\nsuggestion that he and the goddess Nerthus, mentioned by Tacitus,\nwere brother and sister, is supported by the line in _Lokasenna_; it\nis an isolated reference, and the Goddess has left no other traces in\nScandinavian mythology. They were the deities, probably agricultural,\nof an earlier age, whose adoption by the later Northmen was explained\nby the story of the compact between Aesir and Vanir. Then their places\nwere usurped by Frey and Freyja, who were possibly created out of\nepithets originally applied to the older pair; Nj\u00f6rd was retained\nwith lessened importance, Nerthus passed out altogether. The Edda\ngives Nj\u00f6rd a giant-bride, Skadi, who was admitted among the Gods in\natonement for the slaying of her father Thiazi; she is little more\nthan a name. Frey and Freyja have other marks of agricultural deities,\nbesides their relationship. Nothing is said about Frey's changing\nshape, but Freyja possesses a hawk-dress which Loki borrows when\nhe wishes to change his form; and, according to Snorri, Frey was\nsacrificed to for the crops. Nj\u00f6rd has an epithet, \"the wealthy,\"\nwhich may have survived from his earlier connexion with the soil. In\nthat case, it would explain why, in Snorri and elsewhere, he is God of\nthe sea and ships, once the province of the ocean-goddess Gefion; the\ntransference is a natural one to an age whose wealth came from the sea.\n\nIn spite of their origin, Frey and Freyja become to all intents\nand purposes Aesir. Frey is to be one of the chief combatants at\nRagnar\u00f6k, with the fire-giant Surt for his antagonist, and a story is\ntold to explain his defeat: he fell in love with Gerd, a giant-maid,\nand sacrificed his sword to get her; hence he is weaponless at the\nlast fight. Loki alludes to this episode in _Lokasenna_: \"With gold\ndidst thou buy Gymi's daughter, and gavest thy sword for her; but when\nMuspell's sons ride over Myrkwood, thou shalt not know with what to\nfight, unhappy one.\" The story is told in full in _Skirnisf\u00f6r_.\n\nFreyja is called by Snorri \"the chief Goddess after Frigg,\" and the\ntwo are sometimes confused. Like her father and brother, she comes into\nconnexion with the giants; she is the beautiful Goddess, and coveted by\nthem. _V\u00f6luspa_ says that the Gods went into consultation to discuss\n\"who had given the bride of Od (_i.e._, Freyja) to the giant race\";\n_Thrymskvida_ relates how the giant Thrym bargained for Freyja as\nthe ransom for Thor's hammer, which he had hidden, and how Loki and\nThor outwitted him; and Snorri says the giants bargained for her as\nthe price for building Valhalla, but were outwitted. Sir G.W. Dasent\nnotices in the folk-tales the eagerness of trolls and giants to learn\nthe details of the agricultural processes, and this is probably the\nclue to the desire of the Frost-Giants in the Edda for the possession\nof Freyja. Idunn, the wife of Bragi, and a purely Norse creation, seems\nto be a double of Freyja; she, too, according to Snorri, is carried\naway by the giants and rescued by Loki. The golden apples which she\nis to keep till Ragnar\u00f6k remind us of those which Frey offered to\nGerd; and the gift of eternal youth, of which they are the symbols,\nwould be appropriate enough to Freyja as an agricultural deity.\n\nThe great necklace Brising, stolen by Loki and won back in fight\nby Heimdal (according to the tenth-century Skalds Thjodulf and Ulf\nUggason), is Freyja's property. On this ground, she has been identified\nwith the heroine of _Svipdag and Menglad_, a poem undoubtedly old,\nthough it has only come down in paper MSS. It is in two parts, the\nfirst telling how Svipdag aroused the Sibyl Groa, his mother, to\ngive him spells to guard him on his journey; the second describing\nhis crossing the wall of fire which surrounded his fated bride\nMenglad. If Menglad is really Freyja, the \"Necklace-glad,\" it is a\ncurious coincidence that one poem connects the waverlowe, or ring of\nfire, with Frey also; for his bride Gerd is protected in the same way,\nthough his servant Skirni goes through it in his place:\n\n_Skirni_. \"Give me the horse that will bear me through the dark magic\nwaverlowe, and the sword that fights of itself against the giant-race.\"\n\n_Frey_. \"I give thee the horse that will bear thee through the dark\nmagic waverlowe, and the sword that will fight of itself if he is\nbold who bears it.\" (_Skirnisf\u00f6r_.)\n\nThe connexion of both with the Midsummer fires, originally part of\nan agricultural ritual, can hardly be doubted.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Loki_, or Lopt, is a strange figure. He is admitted among the Aesir,\nthough not one of them by birth, and his whole relation to them\npoints to his being an older elemental God. He is in alliance with\nthem against the giants; he and Odin have sworn blood-brothership,\naccording to _Lokasenna_, and he helps Thor to recover his hammer\nthat Asgard may be defended against the giants. On the other hand,\nwhile in present alliance with the Gods, he is chief agent in their\nfuture destruction, and this they know. In Snorri, he is a mischievous\nspirit of the fairy-tale kind, exercising his ingenuity alternately in\ngetting the Gods into difficulties, and in getting them out again. So\nhe betrays Idunn to the giants, and delivers her; he makes the bargain\nby which Freyja is promised to the giant-builders of Valhalla,\nand invents the trick by which they are cheated of their prize;\nby killing the otter he endangers his own head, Odin's and Hoeni's,\nand he obtains the gold which buys their atonement. Hence, in the\nsystematising of the Viking religion, the responsibility for Baldr's\ndeath also was transferred to him. At the coming of the fire-giants\nat Ragnar\u00f6k, he is to steer the ship in which Muspell's sons sail\n(_V\u00f6luspa_), further evidence of his identity as a fire-spirit. Like\nhis son the Wolf, he is chained by the Gods; the episode is related\nin a prose-piece affixed to _Lokasenna_:\n\n\"After that Loki hid himself in Franangr's Foss in the form of\na salmon. There the Aesir caught him. He was bound with the guts\nof his son Nari, but his son Narfi was changed into a wolf. Skadi\ntook a poisonous snake and fastened it up over Loki's face, and the\npoison dropped down. Sigyn, Loki's wife, sat there and held a cup\nunder the poison. But when it was full she poured the poison away,\nand meanwhile poison dropped on Loki, and he struggled so hard that\nall the earth shook; those are called earthquakes now.\"\n\n_V\u00f6luspa_ inserts lines corresponding to this passage after the\nBaldr episode, and Snorri makes it a consequence of Loki's share in\nthat event.\n\nHe is more especially agent of the doom through his children:\nat Ragnar\u00f6k, Fenri the Wolf, bound long before by Tyr's help,\nwill be freed, and swallow the sun (_Vafthrudnismal_) and Odin\n(_Vafthrudnismal_ and _V\u00f6luspa_); and J\u00f6rmungandr, the Giant-Snake,\nwill rise from the sea where he lies curled round the world, to slay\nand be slain by Thor. The dragon's writhing in the waves is one\nof the tokens to herald Ragnar\u00f6k, and his battle with Thor is the\nfiercest combat of that day. Only _V\u00f6luspa_ of our poems gives any\naccount of it: \"Then comes the glorious son of Hlodyn, Odin's son\ngoes to meet the serpent; Midgard's guardian slays him in his rage,\nbut scarcely can Earth's son reel back nine feet from the dragon.\"\n\nWhen Thor goes fishing with the giant Hymi, he terrifies his companion\nby dragging the snake's head out of the sea, but he does not slay it;\nit must wait there till Ragnar\u00f6k:\n\n\"The protector of men, the only slayer of the Serpent, baited his hook\nwith the ox's head. The God-hated one who girds all lands from below\nswallowed the bait. Doughtily pulled mighty Thor the poison-streaked\nserpent up to the side; he struck down with his hammer the hideous\nhead of the wolf's companion. The monster roared, the wilderness\nresounded, the old earth shuddered all through. The fish sank back\ninto the sea. Gloomy was the giant when they rowed back, so that he\nspoke not a word.\"\n\nThere is nothing to suggest that J\u00f6rmungandr, to whom the word\nWorld-Snake (Midgardsorm) always refers in the Edda, is the same as\nNidh\u00f6gg, the serpent that gnaws at Yggdrasil's roots; but both are\nrelics of Snake-worship.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_The World-Ash_, generally called Yggdrasil's Ash, is one of the most\ninteresting survivals of tree-worship. It is described by the Sibyl\nin _V\u00f6luspa_: \"I know an ash called Yggdrasil, a high tree sprinkled\nwith white moisture (thence come the dews that fall in the dales):\nit stands ever-green by Urd's spring. Thence come three maids,\nall-knowing, from the hall that stands under the tree\"; and as a\nsign of the approaching doom she says: \"Yggdrasil's ash trembles as\nit stands; the old tree groans.\" _Grimnismal_ says that the Gods go\nevery day to hold judgment by the ash, and describes it further:\n\n\"Three roots lie three ways under Yggdrasil's ash: Hel dwells under\none, the frost-giants under the second, mortal men under the third. The\nsquirrel is called Ratatosk who shall run over Yggdrasil's ash;\nhe shall carry down the eagle's words, and tell them to Nidh\u00f6gg\nbelow. There are four harts, with necks thrown back, who gnaw\noff the shoots.... More serpents lie under Yggdrasil's ash than\nany one knows. Ofni and Svafni I know will ever gnaw at the tree's\ntwigs. Yggdrasil's ash suffers more hardships than men know: the hart\nbites above, the side decays, and Nidh\u00f6gg gnaws below.... Yggdrasil's\nash is the best of trees.\"\n\nThe snake and the tree are familiar in other mythologies, though in\nmost other cases the snake is the protector, while here he is the\ndestroyer. Both Nidh\u00f6gg and J\u00f6rmungandr are examples of the destroying\ndragon rather than the treasure-guardian. The Ash is the oracle: the\njudgment-place of the Gods, the dwelling of the Fates, the source of\nthe spring of knowledge.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Ragnar\u00f6k_.--The Twilight of the Gods (or Doom of the Gods) is the\ncentral point of the Viking religion. The Regin (of which _Ragna_\nis genitive plural) are the ruling powers, often called Ginnregin\n(the great Gods), Uppregin (the high Gods), Thrymregin (the warrior\nGods). The word is commonly used of the Aesir in _V\u00f6luspa_; in\n_Alvissmal_ the Regin seem to be distinguished from both Aesir and\nVanir. The whole story of the Aesir is overshadowed by knowledge of\nthis coming doom, the time when they shall meet foes more terrible\nthan the giants, and fall before them; their constant effort is to\nlearn what will happen then, and to gather their forces together\nto meet it. The coming Ragnar\u00f6k is the reason for the existence of\nValhalla with its hosts of slain warriors; and of all the Gods, Odin,\nThor, Tyr and Loki are most closely connected with it. Two poems of\nthe verse Edda describe it:\n\n(1) _Vafthrudnismal_:\n\nV. \"What is the plain called where Surt and the blessed Gods shall\nmeet in battle?\"\n\nO. \"Vigrid is the name of the place where Surt and the blessed Gods\nshall meet in battle. It is a hundred miles every way; it is their\ndestined battle-field.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nO. \"Whence shall the sun come on the smooth heaven when Fenri has\ndestroyed this one?\"\n\nV. \"Before Fenri destroy her, the elf-beam shall bear a daughter:\nthat maid shall ride along her mother's paths, when the Gods perish.\"\n\nO. \"Which of the Aesir shall rule over the realms of the Gods, when\nSurt's fire is quenched?\"\n\nV. \"Vidar and Vali shall dwell in the sanctuary of the Gods when\nSurt's fire is quenched. Modi and Magni shall have Mj\u00f6llni at the\nend of Vingni's (_i.e._, Thor's) combat.\"\n\nO. \"What shall be Odin's end, when the Gods perish?\"\n\nV. \"The Wolf will swallow the father of men; Vidar will avenge it. He\nwill cleave the Wolf's cold jaws in the battle.\"\n\n(2) _V\u00f6luspa_:\n\n\"A hag sits eastward in Ironwood and rears Fenri's children; one of\nthem all, in troll's shape, shall be the sun's destroyer. He shall\nfeed on the lives of death-doomed men; with red blood he shall redden\nthe seat of the Gods. The sunshine shall grow black, all winds will\nbe unfriendly in the after-summers.... I see further in the future\nthe great Ragnar\u00f6k of the Gods of Victory.... Heimdal blows loudly,\nthe horn is on high; Yggdrasil's ash trembles as it stands, the old\ntree groans.\"\n\nThe following lines tell of the fire-giants and the various combats,\nand the last section of the poem deals with a new world when Baldr,\nH\u00f6d and Hoeni are to come back to the dwelling-place of the Gods.\n\nThe whole points to a belief in the early destruction of the world\nand the passing away of the old order of things. Whether the new\nworld which _Vafthrudnismal_ and _V\u00f6luspa_ both prophesy belongs to\nthe original idea or not is a disputed point. Probably it does not;\nat all events, none of the old Aesir, according to the poems, are\nto survive, for Modi and Magni are not really Gods at all, Baldr,\nH\u00f6d and Vali belong to another myth, Hoeni had passed out of the\nhierarchy by his exchange with Nj\u00f6rd, and Vidar's origin is obscure.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_The Einherjar_, the great champions or chosen warriors, are intimately\nconnected with Ragnar\u00f6k. All warriors who fall in battle are taken\nto Odin's hall of the slain, Valhalla. According to _Grimnismal_,\nhe \"chooses every day men dead by the sword\"; his Valkyries ride\nto battle to give the victory and bring in the fallen. Hence Odin\nis the giver of victory. Loki in _Lokasenna_ taunts him with giving\nvictory to the wrong side: \"Thou hast never known how to decide the\nbattle among men. Thou hast often given victory to those to whom thou\nshouldst not give it, to the more cowardly\"; this, no doubt, was in\norder to secure the best fighters for Valhalla. That the defeated\nside sometimes consoled themselves with this explanation of a notable\nwarrior's fall is proved by the tenth-century dirge on Eirik Bloodaxe,\nwhere Sigmund the Volsung asks in Valhalla: \"Why didst thou take the\nvictory from him, if thou thoughtest him brave?\" and Odin replies:\n\"Because it is uncertain when the grey Wolf will come to the seat\nof the Gods.\" There are similar lines in Eyvind's dirge on Hakon\nthe Good. In this way a host was collected ready for Ragnar\u00f6k:\nfor _Grimnismal_  says: \"There are five hundred doors and eighty\nin Valhalla; eight hundred Einherjar will go out from each door,\nwhen they go to fight the wolf.\" Meanwhile they fight and feast:\n\"All the Einherjar in Odin's courts fight every day: they choose\nthe slain and ride from the battle, and sit then in peace together\"\n(_Vafthrudnismal_,) and the Valkyries bear ale to them _(Grimnismal_).\n\nIt is often too hastily assumed that the Norse Ragnar\u00f6k with\nthe dependant Valhalla system are in great part the outcome of\nChristian influence: of an imitation of the Christian Judgment Day\nand the Christian heaven respectively. Owing to the lateness of our\nmaterial, it is, of course, impossible to decide how old the beliefs\nmay be, but it is likely that the Valhalla idea only took form at\nthe systematising of the mythology in the Viking age. The belief\nin another world for the dead is, however, by no means exclusively\nChristian, and a reference in _Grimnismal_ suggests the older system\nout of which, under the influence of the Ragnar\u00f6k idea, Valhalla was\ndeveloped. The lines, \"The ninth hall is Folkvang, where Freyja rules\nthe ordering of seats in the hall; half the slain she chooses every\nday, Odin has the other half,\" are an evident survival of a belief\nthat all the dead went to live with the Gods, Odin having the men,\nand Freyja (or more probably Frigg) the women; the idea being here\nconfused with the later system, under which only those who fell in\nbattle were chosen by the Gods. Christian colouring appears in the\nlast lines of _V\u00f6luspa_ and in Snorri, where men are divided into the\n\"good and moral,\" who go after death to a hall of red gold, and the\n\"perjurers and murderers,\" who are sent to a hall of snakes.\n\nFor Ragnar\u00f6k also a heathen origin is at least as probable as a\nChristian one. I would suggest as a possibility that the expectation of\nthe Twilight of the Gods may have grown out of some ritual connected\nwith the eclipse, such as is frequent among heathen races. Such\nceremonies are a tacit acknowledgment of a doubt, and if they ever\nexisted among the Scandinavians, the possibility, ever present to\nthe savage mind, of a time when his efforts to help the light might\nbe fruitless, and the darkness prove the stronger, would be the germ\nof his more civilised descendant's belief in Ragnar\u00f6k.\n\nBy turning to the surviving poems of the Skalds, whose dates can be\napproximately reckoned from the sagas, we can fix an inferior limit\nfor certain of the legends given above, placing them definitely in the\nheathen time. Reference has already been made to the corroboration\nof the Valhalla belief supplied by the elegies on Eirik Bloodaxe\nand Hakon the Good. In the former (which is anonymous, but must have\nbeen written soon after 950, since it was composed, on Eirik's death,\nby his wife's orders), Odin commands the Einherjar and Valkyries to\nprepare for the reception of the slain Eirik and his host, since no\none knows how soon the Gods will need to gather their forces together\nfor the great contest. Eyvind's dirge on Hakon (who fell in 970) is an\nimitation of this: Odin sends two Valkyries to choose a king to enter\nhis service in Valhalla; they find Hakon on the battle-field, and\nhe is slain with many of his followers. Great preparation is made in\nValhalla for his reception, and the poet ends by congratulating Hakon\n(who, though a Christian, having been educated in England, had not\ninterfered with the heathen altars and sacrifices) on the toleration\nwhich has secured him such a welcome. A still earlier poet, Hornklofi,\nwriting during the reign of Harald Fairhair (who died in 933), alludes\nto the slain as the property of \"the one-eyed husband of Frigg.\"\n\nSeveral Skalds mention legends of Thor: his fishing for the World-Snake\nis told by Bragi (who from his place in genealogies must have written\nbefore 900), and by Ulf Uggason and Eystein Valdason, both in the\nsecond half of the tenth century; and Thjodulf and Eilif (the former\nabout 960, the latter a little later) tell tales of his fights with\nthe giants. Turning to the other Gods, Egil Skallagrimsson (about 970)\nnames Frey and Nj\u00f6rd as the givers of wealth; Bragi tells the story\nof Gefion's dragging the island of Zealand out of Lake Wener into\nthe sea; and Ulf Uggason speaks of Heimdal's wrestling with Loki.\n\nThe legend of Idunn is told by Thjodulf much as Snorri tells it:\nOdin, Hoeni and Loki, while on a journey, kill and roast an ox. The\ngiant Thiazi swoops down in eagle's shape and demands a share; Loki\nstrikes the eagle, who flies off with him, releasing him only on\ncondition that he will betray to the giants Idunn, \"the care-healing\nmaid who understands the renewal of youth.\" He does so, and the Gods,\nwho grow old and withered for want of her apples, force him to go\nand bring her back to Asgard.\n\nThe poet of _Eiriksmal_, quoted above, alludes to the Baldr myth:\nBragi, hearing the approach of Eirik and his host, asks \"What is\nthat thundering and tramping, as if Baldr were coming back to Odin's\nhall?\" The funeral pyre of Baldr is described by Ulf Uggason: he is\nburnt on his ship, which is launched by a giantess, in the presence\nof Frey, Heimdal, Odin and the Valkyries.\n\nThough heathen writers outside of Scandinavia are lacking, references\nto Germanic heathendom fortunately survive in several Continental\nChristian historians of earlier date than any of our Scandinavian\nsources. The evidence of these, though scanty, is corroborative,\nand the allusions are in striking agreement with the Edda stories in\ntone and character.\n\nOdin (Wodanus) is always identified by these writers with the\nRoman Mercurius (whom Tacitus named as the chief German God). This\nidentification occurs in the eighth-century Paulus Diaconus, and in\nJonas of Bobbio (first half of the seventh century), and probably rests\non Odin's character as a wandering God (Mercury being diaktoros), his\ndisguises, and his patronage of poetry and eloquence (as Mercury is\nlogios). Odin is not himself in general the conductor of dead souls\n(psychopompos), like the Roman God, his attendant Valkyries performing\nthe office for him. The equation is only comprehensible on the\npresumption of the independence of Germanic mythology, and cannot be\nexplained by transmission. For if Odin were in any degree an imitation\nof the Roman deity, other notable attributes of the latter would have\nbeen assigned to him: whereas in the Edda the thieving God (kleptis)\nis not Odin but Loki, and the founder of civilisation is Heimdal.\n\nThe legend of the origin of the Lombards given by Paulus Diaconus\nillustrates the relations of Odin and Frigg. The Vandals asked Wodan\n(Odin) to grant them victory over the Vinili; the latter made a similar\nprayer to Frea (Frigg), the wife of Wodan. She advised them to make\ntheir wives tie their hair round their faces like beards, and go with\nthem to meet Wodan in the morning. They did so, and Wodan exclaimed,\n\"Who are these _Long-beards_?\" Then Frea said that having given the\nVinili a name, he must give them the victory (as Helgi in the Edda\nclaims a gift from Svava when she names him). As in _Grimnismal_,\nOdin and Frigg are represented as supporting rival claims, and Frigg\ngains the day for her favourites by superior cunning. This legend\nalso shows Odin as the giver of victory.\n\nFew heathen legends are told however by these early Christian writers,\nand the Gods are seldom called by their German names. An exception is\nthe Frisian Fosite mentioned by Alcuin (who died 804) and by later\nwriters; he is to be identified with the Norse Forseti, the son of\n(probably at first an epithet of) Baldr, but no legend of him is\ntold. It is disappointing that these writers should have said so\nlittle of any God except the chief one. A very characteristic touch\nsurvives in Gregory of Tours (died 594), when the Frank Chlodvig tells\nhis Christian wife that the Christian God \"cannot be proved to be\nof the race of the Gods,\" an idea entirely in keeping with the Eddic\nhierarchy. Before leaving the Continental historians, reference may be\nmade to the abundant evidence of Germanic tree-worship to be gathered\nfrom them. The holy oak mentioned by Wilibald (before 786), the sacred\npear-tree of Constantius (473), with numerous others, supply parallels\nto the World-Ash which is so important a feature of Norse mythology.\n\nA study of this subject would be incomplete without some reference to\nthe mythology of Saxo Grammaticus. His testimony on the old religion\nis unwilling, and his effort to discredit it very evident. The\nbitterness of his attack on Frigg especially suggests that she\nwas, among the Northmen, a formidable rival to the Virgin. When he\nrepeats a legend of the Gods, he transforms them into mortal heroes,\nand when, as often happens, he refers to them accidentally as Gods,\nhe invariably hastens to protest that he does so only because it had\nbeen the custom. He describes Thor and Odin as men versed in sorcery\nwho claimed the rank of Gods; and in another passage he speaks of\nthe latter as a king who had his seat at Upsala, and who was falsely\ncredited with divinity throughout Europe. His description of Odin\nagrees with that in the Edda: an old man of great stature and mighty\nin battle, one-eyed, wearing a great cloak, and constantly wandering\nabout in disguise. The story which Saxo tells of his driving into\nbattle with Harald War-tooth, disguised as the latter's charioteer\nBrun, and turning the fight against him by revealing to his enemy Ring\nthe order of battle which he had invented for Harald's advantage, is\nin thorough agreement with the traditional character of the God who\nbetrayed Sigmund the Volsung and Helgi Hundingsbane. Saxo's version\nof the Baldr story has been mentioned already. Baldr's transformation\ninto a hero (who could only be slain by a sword in the keeping of\na wood-satyr) is almost complete. But Odin and Thor and all the\nGods fight for him against his rival Hother, \"so that it might be\ncalled a battle of Gods against men\"; and Nanna's excuse to Baldr\nthat \"a God could not wed with a mortal,\" preserves a trace of his\norigin. The chained Loki appears in Saxo as Utgarda-Loki, lying bound\nin a cavern of snakes, and worshipped as a God by the Danish king\nGorm Haraldsson. Dr. Eydberg sees the Freyja myth in Saxo's story of\nSyritha, who was carried away by the giants and delivered by her lover\nOthar (the Od of the Edda): an example, like _Svipdag and Menglad_,\nof the complete transformation of a divine into an heroic myth. In\nalmost all cases Saxo vulgarises the stories in the telling, a common\nresult when a mythical tale is retold by a Christian writer, though\nit is still more conspicuous in his versions of the heroic legends.\n\n\n\n\n\nAppendix\n\n\n_Thrymskvida_.\n\n1. Then Wing-Thor was angry when he awoke, and missed his hammer. He\nshook his beard, he tossed his hair, the son of Earth groped about\nfor it.\n\n2. And first of all he spoke these words: \"Hear now, Loki, what I\ntell thee, a thing that no one in earth or heaven above has heard:\nthe Asa has been robbed of his hammer!\"\n\n3. They went to the dwelling of fair Freyja, and these words he\nspoke first of all: \"Wilt thou lend me, Freyja, thy feather dress,\nto see if I can find my hammer?\"\n\n4. _Freyja_. \"I would give it thee, though it were of gold; I would\ngrant it, though it were of silver.\"\n\n5. Then Loki flew, the feather-coat rustled, until he came out of\nAsgard and into J\u00f6tunheim.\n\n6. Thrym, lord of the Giants, sat on a howe; he twisted golden bands\nfor his greyhounds and trimmed his horses' manes.\n\n7. _Thrym_. \"How is it with the Aesir? How is it with the Elves? Why\nart thou come alone into J\u00f6tunheim?\"\n\n_Loki_. \"It is ill with the Aesir, it is ill with the Elves; hast\nthou hidden the Thunderer's hammer?\"\n\n8. _Thrym_. \"I have hidden the Thunderer's hammer eight miles below the\nearth. No man shall bring it back, unless he bring me Freyja to wife.\"\n\n9. Then Loki flew, the feather-coat rustled, until he came out of\nJ\u00f6tunheim and into Asgard. Thor met him in the middle of the court,\nand these words he spoke first:\n\n10. \"Hast thou news in proportion to thy toil? Tell me from on high\nthy distant tidings, for a sitting man often breaks down in his story,\nand he who lies down falls into falsehood.\"\n\n11. _Loki_. \"I bring news for my toil: Thrym, lord of the Giants,\nhas thy hammer; no man shall bring it back, unless he take him Freyja\nas a bride.\"\n\n12. They went to see fair Freyja, spoke to her first of all these\nwords: \"Bind on the bridal veil, Freyja, we two must drive to\nJ\u00f6tunheim.\"\n\n13. Angry then was Freyja; she panted, so that all the hall of the\nAesir trembled, and the great Brising necklace fell: \"Eager indeed\nfor marriage wouldst thou think me, if I should drive with thee\nto J\u00f6tunheim.\"\n\n14. Then all the Aesir went into council, and all the Asynjor to\nconsultation, and the mighty Gods discussed how they should recover\nthe Thunderer's hammer.\n\n15. Then spoke Heimdal, whitest of the Aesir; he could see into the\nfuture like the Vanir: \"Let us bind on Thor the bridal veil; let him\nhave the great necklace Brising.\n\n16. \"Let the keys jingle, and let women's weeds fall about his knees;\nlet us put broad stones on his breast, and a hood dexterously on\nhis head.\"\n\n17. Then spoke Thor, the mighty Asa: \"Vile would the Aesir call me,\nif I let the bridal veil be bound on me.\"\n\n18. Then spoke Loki, Laufey's son: \"Speak not such words, Thor! soon\nwill the Giants dwell in Asgard, unless thou bring home thy hammer.\"\n\n19. Then they bound on Thor the bridal veil, and the great necklace\nBrising; they let the keys jingle and women's weeds fall about\nhis knees, and they put broad stones on his breast, and the hood\ndexterously on his head.\n\n20. Then spoke Loki, Laufey's son: \"I also will go with thee as thy\nmaiden; we two will drive together to J\u00f6tunheim.\"\n\n21. Then the goats were driven out, urged forward in their harness;\nwell must they run. Rocks were riven, the earth burned in name:\nOdin's son was driving into J\u00f6tunheim.\n\n22. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: \"Stand up, giants, and\nstrew the benches! They are bringing me now Freyja my bride, Nj\u00f6rd's\ndaughter from Noatun.\n\n23. \"Gold-horned kine run in the court, oxen all-black, the giant's\ndelight. I have many treasures, I have many jewels, Freyja only\nis lacking.\"\n\n24. The guests assembled early in the evening, and ale was carried\nto the Giants. One ox did Sif's husband eat, and eight salmon, and\nall the dishes prepared for the women; three casks of mead he drank.\n\n25. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: \"Who ever saw a bride eat\nso eagerly? I never saw a bride make such a hearty meal, nor a maid\ndrink so deep of mead.\"\n\n26. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's\nwords: \"Eight nights has Freyja eaten nothing, so eager was she to\nbe in J\u00f6tunheim.\"\n\n27. He looked under the veil, he longed to kiss the bride, but\nhe started back the length of the hall: \"Why are Freyja's eyes so\nterrible? Fire seems to burn from her eyes.\"\n\n28. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's\nspeech: \"Eight nights has Freyja had no sleep, so eager was she to\nbe in J\u00f6tunheim.\"\n\n29. In came the Giants' wretched sister, she dared to ask for a bridal\ngift: \"Take from thine arms the red rings, if thou wouldst gain my\nlove, my love and all my favour.\"\n\n30. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: \"Bring the hammer to hallow\nthe bride. Lay Mj\u00f6llni on the maiden's knee, hallow us two in wedlock.\"\n\n31. The Thunderer's heart laughed in his breast, when the bold of\nsoul felt the hammer. Thrym killed he first, the lord of the Giants,\nand all the race of the Giants he struck.\n\n32. He slew the Giants' aged sister, who had asked him for a bridal\ngift. She got a blow instead of shillings, and a stroke of the hammer\nfor abundance of rings. So Odin's son got back his hammer.\n\n\n\nBibliography\n\n\nI. Study in the Original.\n\n(1) _Poetic Edda_.--The classic edition, and on the whole the best,\nis Professor Bugge's (Christiania, 1867); the smaller editions of\nHildebrand (_Die Lieder der Aelteren Edda_, Paderborn, 1876), and\nFinnur J\u00f3nsson (_Eddalieder_, Halle, 1888-90) are also good; the\nlatter is in two parts, _G\u00f6ttersage_ and _Heldensage_. The poems may\nalso be found in the first volume of Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus\nPoeticum Boreale_ (Oxford, 1883), accompanied by translations;\tbut in\nmany cases they are cut up and rearranged, and they suffer metrically\nfrom the system adopted of printing two short lines as one long one,\nwith no dividing point. There is an excellent palaeographic edition\nof the _Codex Regius of the Elder Edda_, by Wimmer and Finnur J\u00f3nsson\n(Copenhagen, 1891), with photographic reproductions interleaved with\na literal transcription.\n\n(2) _Snorra Edda_.--The most recent edition of the whole is Dr. Finnur\nJ\u00f3nsson's (Copenhagen, 1875). There is a useful edition of the\nmythological portions _(i.e., Gylfaginning, Bragaraedur_, and the\nnarrative parts of _Skaldskaparmal_) by Ernst Wilken (_Die Pros\u00e4ische\nEdda_, Paderborn, 1878).\n\n(3) _Dictionaries and Grammars_.--For the study of the Poetic Edda,\nGering's _Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda_ (Paderborn, 1896) will\nbe found most useful; it is complete and trustworthy, and in small\ncompass. A similar service has been performed for _Snorra Edda_ in\nWilken's _Glossar_ (Paderborn, 1883), which forms a second volume to\nhis edition, mentioned above. Both are, of course, in German. The only\nEnglish dictionary is the lexicon of Cleasby and Vigfusson (Oxford).\n\nOf Grammars, the best are German; those of Noreen (_Altnordische\nGrammatik_, Halle, 1892), of which there is an abbreviated edition,\nand Kahle (_Altisl\u00e4ndisches Elementarbuch_, Heidelberg, 1896) being\nbetter suited for advanced students; the English grammars included\nin Vigfusson and Powell's _Icelandic Reader_ (Oxford) and Sweet's\n_Icelandic Primer_ (Oxford) are more elementary, and therefore hardly\nadequate for the study of the verse literature.\n\n\nII. Translations.\n\nThere are English translations of the Elder Edda by Anderson (Chicago,\n1879) and Thorpe (1866), as well as the translations in the _Corpus\nPoeticum_, which are, of course, liable to the same objection as\nthe text. The most accurate German translation is Gering's (Leipzig,\n1893); in Simrock's (_Aeltere und J\u00fcngere Edda_, Stuttgart, 1882), the\ntranslations of the verse Edda are based on an uncritical text. Snorra\nEdda was translated into English by Dasent (Stockholm, 1842); also\nby Anderson (Chicago, 1880).\n\n\nIII. Modern Authorities.\n\nTo the works on Northern mythology mentioned below in the note on\nthe Baldr theories, must be added Dr. Rydberg's _Teutonic Mythology_\n(English version by R.B. Anderson, London, 1889), which devotes\nspecial attention to Saxo.\n\n\n\nNotes\n\n_Home of the Edda_. (Page 2.)\n\nThe chief apologists for the British theory are Professor Bugge\n(_Studien \u00fcber die Entstehung der nordischen G\u00f6tter- und Heldensagen_,\nM\u00fcnchen, 1889), and the editors of the _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_ (see\nthe Introduction to that  work, and also the Prolegomena prefixed to\ntheir edition of the _Sturlunga Saga_, Oxford). The case for Norway\nand Greenland is argued by Dr. Finnur J\u00f3nsson (_Den oldnorsk og\noldislandske Literaturs-Historie,_ Copenhagen). The cases for both\nBritish and Norwegian origin are based chiefly on rather fanciful\narguments from supposed local colour. The theory of the _Corpus\nPoeticum_ editors that many of the poems were composed in the Scottish\nisles is discredited by the absence of Gaelic words or traces of Gaelic\nlegend. Professor Bugge's North of England theory is slightly stronger,\nbeing supported by several Old English expressions in the poems,\nbut these are not enough to prove that they were composed in England,\nsince most Icelanders travelled east at some time of their lives.\n\n(Page 3.)\n\nA later study will deal with the Heroic legends.\n\n_Ynglinga Saga_. (Page 3.)\n\n_Ynglinga Saga_ is prefixed to the Lives of the Kings in the collection\nknown as _Heimskringla_ (edited by Unger, Christiania, 1868, and by\nFinnur J\u00f3nsson, Christiania, 1893); there is an English translation\nin Laing's _Lives of the Kings of Norway_ (London, 1889).\n\n_V\u00f6luspa_. (Page 4.)\n\nA poem of similar form occurs among the heroic poems. _Gripisspa_,\na prophetic outline of Sigurd's life, introduces the Volsung poems,\nas _V\u00f6luspa_ does the Asgard cycle.\n\n_Riddle-poems_. (Page 6.)\n\nSo many of the mythological poems are in this form that they suggest\nthe question, did the asking of riddles form any part of Scandinavian\nritual?\n\n_The Aesir_. (Page 11.)\n\n_Ynglinga Saga_ says that Odin and the Aesir came to Norway from Asia;\na statement due, of course, to a false etymology, though theories as\nto the origin of Norse mythology have been based on it.\n\n_Tyr_. (Page 12.)\n\nTyr is etymologically identical with Zeus, and with the Sanskrit Dyaus\n(Sky-God).\n\n_Baldr_. (Pages 16 to 22.)\n\nThe Baldr theories are stated in the following authorities:\n\n(1) Ritual origin: Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, vol. 3.\n\n(2) Heroic origin: Golther, _Handbuch der Germanischen Mythologie_\n(Leipzig, 1895); Niedner, _Eddische Fragen_ (_Zeitschrift\nf\u00fcr deutsches Altertum_, new series, 29), _Zur Lieder-Edda_\n(_Zeitschr. f. d. Alt_. vol. 36).\n\n(3) Solar myth: Sir G.W. Cox, _Mythology of the Aryan Nations_\n(London, 1870); Max M\u00fcller, _Chips from a German Workshop_, vol. 4.\n\n(4) Borrowed: Bugge, _Studien \u00fcber die Entstchung der nordischen\nG\u00f6tter- und Heldensagen_ (transl. Brenner, M\u00fcnchen, 1889).\n\n_Vegtamskvida_. (Page 17.)\n\nThe word _hrodhrbadhm_ (which I have given as \"branch of fame\")\nwould perhaps be more accurately translated \"tree of fame,\" which\nGering explains as a kenning for Baldr. But there are no kennings of\nthe same sort in the poem, and the line would have no meaning. If it\nrefers to the mistletoe, as most commentators agree, it merely shows\nthat the poet was ignorant of the nature of the plant, which would\nbe in favour of its antiquity, rather than the reverse.\n\n\n_Saxo Grammaticus_. (Page 18.)\n\nEnglish translation by Professor Elton (London, D. Nutt, 1894). As\nSaxo's references to the old Gods are made in much the same sympathetic\ntone as that adopted by Old Testament writers towards heathen deities,\nhis testimony on mythological questions is of the less value.\n\n\n_The Mistletoe_. (Page 20.)\n\nIt seems incredible that any writers should turn to the travesty of\nthe Baldr story given in the almost worthless saga of Hromund Gripsson\nin support of a theory. In it \"Bildr\" is killed by Hromund, who has\nthe sword Mistilteinn. It must be patent to any one that this is a\nperverted version of a story which the narrator no longer understood.\n\n\n_Loki_. (Page 26.)\n\nIt is hardly necessary to point out the parallel between Loki and\nPrometheus, also both helper and enemy of the Gods, and agent in their\nthreatened fall, though in the meantime a prisoner. In character\nLoki has more in common with the mischievous spirit described by\nHesiod, than with the heroic figure of Aeschylus. The struggles of\nLoki (p. 28) find a parallel in those of the fire-serpent Typhon,\nto which the Greeks attributed earthquakes.\n\n\n_Eclipse Ritual_. (Page 35.)\n\nMr. Lang, in _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, (London, 1887)  gives\nexamples of eclipse ritual. Grimm, in the _Teutonic Mythology_,\nvol. 2, quotes Finnish and Lithuanian myths about sun-devouring beasts,\nvery similar to the Fenri myth.\n\n\n_The Skalds_. (Page 35.)\n\nAll the Skaldic verses will be found, with translations, in the\n_Corpus Poeticum_.","title":"The Edda, Volume 1: The Divine Mythology of the North; Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folklore, No. 12","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":12011}